Bleacher Report: 2010 WPS Power Rankings: Week 19
- August 23, 2010
FC Gold Pride have done it. After three straight weeks of no production, the Lionesses of the East Bay flip the switch to "ON" and roll towards the top spot in the 2010 Women's Professional Soccer Power Rankings this week.
So now it becomes a race for the other three playoff spots. With just a few games remaining in the season, it's time to take a look at the rankings.
1. FC GOLD PRIDE
Albertin Montoya's FC Gold Pride are now at the top of the mountain in the regular season.
After three weeks of scoreless draws, they mustered up the firepower against the Chicago Red Stars at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois and won 3-2 behind their trigger player, the world-famous Marta Vieira da Silva.
In the eighth minute, Ali Riley on the left flank found a streaking Marta, who put in a clinical finish for her 14th of the season to make it 1-0 on Sunday.
In the 33rd minute, Rachel Buehler opened her scoring account with a sensational corner from Tiffeny Milbrett to make it 2-1.
Late in the second half, a handball by Chicago's Natalie Spilger forced referee Michael Donovan to point to the spot. It was Marta who slotted home her 15th of the season to make it 3-2.
“I’m very, very happy,” Marta said after the match. “Winning the regular season title is great, but winning the WPS Championship is very important. We achieved a lot, but there is more work to be done to prepare for the Championship.”
The Lionesses of the East Bay outshot Chicago 17 to 11 (with nine shots on goal compared to six for Chicago), and not even 15 fouls by the home side compared to six could stop Gold Pride from making up for their inept play as of late. Never mind that the Pride ran the Red Stars out of the stadium in the corner kicks department, earning nine compared to Chicago's two.
For Montoya, it was the fruit of a huge turnaround from an abysmal first season.
This is very exciting,” Montoya said following the game. “We went from finishing at the bottom last season to being on top, so we are ecstatic. Coming back strong in our second season and finishing in first means a lot to the entire organization.
"I want the team to really enjoy this moment because they earned it, but we also need to keep in the back of our minds what happened to last year’s regular season championship team [Los Angeles Sol] in the finals.”
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